HUNTINGTON BEACH : High School Campus to Keep Fast-Food Outlet for Another Year

An experiment with a fast-food outlet on the Ocean View High campus has proved so successful that Huntington Beach Union High School District board members have agreed to continue the high school’s contract with Taco Bell for another year .

For the past school year, Taco Bell has operated an “express” franchise on the Ocean View campus at Warner Avenue and Gothard Street. The fast-food outlet is an alternative for students who do not want to eat at the regular campus cafeteria, district officials said.

“It’s our attempt to be responsive to our clients (the students),” Assistant Supt. Patricia Koch said after last week’s board meeting. “It’s also an effort to keep kids from leaving campus. If we can provide what they want, then we can keep them there on campus and they’re not wandering off at lunch.”

Koch said Taco Bell items sold meet state guidelines for nutrition. She also said the fast-food outlet does not undermine the regular school cafeteria.

Having a fast-food outlet on campus provides several benefits, Koch said. “It’s better security, it’s better in seeing that kids stay at the school, and since it’s worked out well, we recommended renewing the agreement.”

The school district’s contract with Taco Bell calls for a percentage of money from gross sales to go to the district. The amount was 12% in the first year contract, and it will be 10% in the second year.

Koch said, however, that it was never a goal of the district to make any money from the fast-food experiment. “We’re just about breaking even on this so far, and that’s about all we expect,” Koch said. “The sales are meeting the objectives, both Taco Bell’s and ours. Obviously, Taco Bell isn’t doing this out of charity.”

Koch said the Taco Bell experiment is novel in that it puts a commercial outlet on the high school campus on a full-time basis. “We’ve had other fast-food vendor programs, such as pizza companies, that we’ve brought on board on an occasional basis. But Taco Bell is there every day,” she said.

The administrator said the school district will further analyze the Ocean View experiment and may recommend similar programs at the other high schools.